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Showing posts with the label heart disease

Intermittent Fasting: A Review of the Evidence

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Intermittent fasting (IF) is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. There are many different IF regimens, but they all involve restricting calorie intake for a certain number of hours each day or week. IF has been shown to have a number of health benefits, including weight loss, improved blood sugar control, and reduced risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. How Does IF Work? When you fast, your body goes into a state of ketosis. Ketosis is a metabolic state in which your body burns fat for energy instead of glucose. This can lead to weight loss and other health benefits. IF also appears to have beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity and inflammation. Insulin is a hormone that helps your body use glucose for energy. When you are insulin resistant, your body does not respond normally to insulin, which can lead to high blood sugar levels. Inflammation is a natural immune response, but chronic inflammation can...

Aspirin: Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer

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Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, representing 24 and 13 percent of all deaths, respectively. Aspirin produces significant reductions in CVD morbidity and mortality among survivors of a wide range of occlusive CVD events, including subsequent coronary heart disease, especially myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke.  In secondary prevention, the absolute benefits of occlusive events are far greater than the absolute risks of major bleeding. In primary prevention, however, among apparently healthy people, the benefit-to-harm ratio is less clear.  Although the benefits of Aspirin on CVD have been known for decades, more recent evidence from randomized trials has suggested a benefit on colorectal cancer. These findings may impact the threshold for the prescription of aspirin by health care professionals and the wishes of healthy people considering aspirin use. Possible Benefit's All-cause mortality or cardiovascul...